Pirates trade Charlie Morton to Phillies

In a move that seemed to come out of left field, the Pirates traded Charlie Morton to the Phillies in exchange for minor league RHP David Whitehead.

While Neal Huntington’s words the other night about the toughness of adding two starting pitchers in the offseason seemed to indicate that the team had set its five-man rotation, that mindset must have changed today. The Pirates announced the move on twitter, in the midst of the action over at PirateFest:

The #Pirates have acquired RHP David Whitehead from the #Phillies in exchange for pitcher Charlie Morton. pic.twitter.com/MTh86pJfrD

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) December 12, 2015

This is an intriguing move for a number of reasons, none of which are because of the quality of the players involved. For one, the Pirates freed up $8 million this season, as the Phillies, by all accounts, took on the full value of the contract. Secondly, the Pirates now lack a starter, as they’re back down to four on the major league roster. This should not be something that Pirate fans should fear, though, considering the depth of quality starters still left on the open market. Rob Biertempfel speculated this and threw out a name that has been connected to the Pirates for a few days now:

So #pirates trade Morton for Class A guy, save $8M in '16. Add Latos next, perhaps.

— RobBiertempfel (@RobBiertempfel) December 12, 2015

Personally, I’m a big fan of Mat Latos. Any pitcher that’s been consistently good and then has one bad year is a perfect target for the Pirates.

On the flip side, David Whitehead isn’t too exciting. He hasn’t pitched past high A ball, and was drafted out of the 34th round by the Phillies in 2013. Whitehead has a career 3.65 ERA and 1.34 WHIP during his minor league career, which isn’t bad at all.

Now, with Morton, Walker, and Alvarez off the books, the Pirates have freed about $20-$25 million for the upcoming season and have added only $12 million with Jonathon Niese and Juan Nicasio. That leaves them enough room to add one more quality starter, ideally a number-three type to slot behind Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano. I like Latos a lot as an option, but guys like Scott Kazmir and various reclamation projects are still out there. It should be interesting to see if, and when, that move comes.

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